IDEAS HOME
INTERIOR DESIGNER JUSTIN COAKLEY TRANSFORMED A CHARACTERLESS 1930S HOUSE, CREATING A MORE SPACIOUS, WELCOMING HOME WITH A PARED-BACK AESTHETIC
Living room
‘The build-up to Christmas is the best part – wrapping gifts and putting up decorations; that’s the magic of it,’ says Justin.
BUY THE KEY PIECES
Carlton sofa in White Lazio fabric, from £2,349, BoConcept. Floating Disks side table, £229, West Elm. Christmas tree, £225, The White Company. Bubble chandelier, from £249.99, Dowsing & Reynolds. Shutters, BellaVista Shutters
THE LAYOUT
The ground floor has a smart living room with bay window to the front and a large kitchen-diner, with bifold doors which open to the garden at the rear. On the first floor there are two bedrooms, plus a study and bathroom. A second flight of stairs leads to the loft where there is a further bedroom and en suite.
Justin and his partner, Zunaid, wanted a house that they could truly put their stamp on when they first stepped onto the London property ladder. They found it in this neglected 1930s terraced house, taking on an ambitious top-to-bottom makeover to bring back its character, but with a fresh, modern twist.
WHY DID YOU BUY THIS HOUSE?
‘We wanted off-street parking and something that was a project. I’d have loved an Edwardian house, but they were double the price in the area. However, they did try to replicate Edwardian style in 1930s houses. What really sold us was the fact that my partner and I are both over 6ft tall, and the ceilings in this house are 2.8-3m high on the first floor, and the rooms are a really good size.’
WHAT WORK HAVE YOU DONE?
‘It was a complete fixer-upper, so we gutted the house. We lived on the top floor while the basement and ground floor were renovated, and then on the ground floor while the upstairs was renovated. It was manic! What should have been a six-month renovation took a year. We were without a kitchen for months – washing dishes in the bath and microwaving meals. The toilet and bathroom were separate, so we connected them to make a bigger bathroom. We also opened up the living room to make it feel twice the size, and we converted the loft to make a master suite with a separate dressing area. It’s gone from two bedrooms and a box room, to a four/five-bedroom house.’
HOW DID YOU ADD CHARACTER?
‘Sadly, the previous owner had ripped out
